Locking mechanism for fluid-containers.



L. M. PARMLEY.

LOCKING MECHANISM FOR FLUID CONTAINERS;

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1910.

Patented June 18,1912.

W] T NESSES 0.. WASHINGTON n c nr sTATEs PATENT onrron.

LEMUEL MATHEW PARMLEY, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

LOCKING MECHANISM FOR FLUID-CONTAINERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 18, 1912.

Application filed November 25, 1910. Serial No. 594,195.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, LEMUEL MATHEW PARMLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Knoxville, in the county of Knox and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Locking Mechanism for Fluid-Containers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

My improvement relates particularly to locking mechanism applied to containers in which liquids and gases are at times under considerable pressure.

The object of the invention is to provide means for automatically looking or unlocking a shift-able member adjacent the container by means of the pressure of the fluid in said container. In the particular form of the apparatus illustrated by the accompanying drawings, said shift-able member is locked by means of the pressure of the fluid within the container, so-that the shiftable member is held immovably while the fluid is exerting pressure and is released to permit shifting only when said pressure is diminished.

The improvement is applicable to cut-0E valves and other devices. The particular form of apparatus illustrated by the drawings is an angle-cock (a variety of cut-01f valve) for the pipes of railway car airbrakes, and in said apparatus the shiftable member which is locked by the pressure of the fluid (air) within the container (the case of the angle-cock and the pipes connected therewith) is the handleby means of which the plug of the cock is rotated through a range of ninety degrees for opening and closing said cook, the relative arrangement of the parts being such as that when said arm is turned into the proper posit-ion to turn the plug for the passage of air through the cock, said arm becomes locked whenever the air within said cock and the pipes connected therewith attains approximately a chosen pressure, and becomes unlocked whenever the pressure is reduced below said chosen pressure. The object in thus locking said arm is to prevent the turning of said arm when the train line has been properly charged, in order to preclude accidental turning or intentional turning by unauthorized persons or by careless and overhasty trainmen before the locomotive engineer in charge of the train desires to have said arm turned for the cutting out of the adjacent car. Bythis provision trainmen may be prevented from cutting out cars until they have been placed upon a siding or elsewhere and brought to a stop, this operation being under the control of the engineer.

Inthe accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is asectional side elevation of an angle-cock having my improvement applied thereto; F g. 2 1s a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is asection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4: is a bottom view of the piston cage; Fig. 5 is an upright sectional view of the locking mechanism having no spring.

Referring to said drawings, A is the body or casing of the angle-cock. B is the plug of the angle-cock. C is the arm or lever applied to the upper end of the plug for turning the latter. As to their main features, these three parts are of the usual and well. known construction. Said arm is, in this case, the shiftable member which is to be locked. The casing has two stops or abutments, D, between which a lug, E, on the lower face of the arm, 0, has its path and by which it is stopped. In one of the lateral arms and approximately parallel to the axis of the plug, a tubular upright piston cage, F, is extended transversely through the upper wall of said arm, the upper portion of said cage being preferably (as shown) screw-threaded into said wall and the lower portion of said casing having a non-circular (square) opening, Gr. Being thus secured, said cage is removable and opens into the interior of the casing and into space outside of the casing. In the upper end of said cage is a circular plug, H, which is screw-threaded into the cage. Said plug has a non-circular (square) aperture, I, of proper size to re ceive a piston stem, J, on the lower end of which is a piston head, K. Said aperture is also adapted to receive a wrench having a square end for turning said plug for its insertion and removal. For the same reason, the aperture, Gr, in the lower end of the cage, F, is made square, the wrench being inserted from above when the plug and the piston are not in position. An expanding coiled spring, L, surrounds the stem, J, and bears by its upper end against the plug, H, and by its lower end against the piston head, K, and exerts upon the latter a downward pres sure which supplements the weight of the piston head and said stem to move the piston downward.

In the arm, C, at a point directly above the stem, J, when the arm, C, is above said stem (the condition when the plug is turned for the passage of liquid through the cock) there is a socket, M, of proper size to receive 5 the upper end of the stem, J, when the latter is pushed upward through the plug, .H. When said stem rests in said socket, the arm, C, is locked against sidewise movement, the stem serving as alocking bolt, and this condition continues until said stem is lowered out of said socket.

The piston head is shown provided with suitable packing rings, N. The piston and its tubular cage may be regarded as an expansion device through which the .fluid in the container acts upon the shiftable member which is to be locked. The lower position of the piston may be said to be its normal position. The upper position is attained by the upward pressure of the air against the lower face of the piston with suificient force to overcomexthe downward pressure due to the combined action of gravity and the spring L. The several parts may be so proportioned as to cause the piston to rise when the air within the angle-cock and the pipes communicating therewith attains approximately a chosen pressure. Following this, the pressure of the air may rise to the maximum provided by the air-brake system ofwhich this apparatus forms a part; and when, at any time, such pressure is reduced below said chosen pressure, said piston will descend until the stem thereof is again entirely out of the cavity or socket, M. The strength of the spring, L, may be made suflicient to move the piston away from the arm, 0, upon the reduction of the fluid pressure, without the aid of the weight of the piston. In that case, the piston need not be upright.

It will be observed that the locking mechanism is inaccessible while it is set or in engagement with the arm or shiftable member, C, said arm or shiftable member covering, masking, or" guarding the locking mechanism during the engagement of said arm. 7

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member, a removable piston cage extending into said container, and a piston locatedin said cage and adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said shiftable member, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member, a removable piston cage extending into said container, and a piston located within said cage and adapted to be moved into engagement with said shiftable member by the pressure of fluid within said container, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a container, of

a cut-oil valve comprising a plug, an armon said plug, a removable piston cage extending into said container, and a piston located in said cage and adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said arm, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a container, of

a cut-oft valve comprising a plug, an armarm by the pressure of fluid within said container, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member, a removable piston cage communicating with said container, and a piston located in said cage and adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said shiftable member, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member, a removable piston cagecommunicating with said container, and a piston located within said cage and adapted to be moved into engagement with said shiftable member by the pressure of fluid within said container, substantially. as described.

7. The combination with a container, of a cut-off valve comprising a plug, an arm on said plug, a removable piston. cage communicating with said container, and a piston located in said cage and adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said arm, substantially as described.

8. The combination with a container, of a cut-off valve comprising a plug, an arm on said plug, a removable cage opening into the interior and the exterior of the container, and a piston located within said cage and having its stem adapted to be moved into operative relation with. said arm by the pressure of fluid within saidcontainer, substantially as described.

9. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member, and locking mechanism adapted to be actuated by the pressure of fluid in said container, said shiftable member masking said locking mechanism while said member is locked, substantially as described.

10. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member, and locking mechanism for said shift-able member, said locking mechanism being adapted tobe put into engagement with said shiftable member by the pressure of fluid within said container,

and said shiftable member masking said locking mechanism, substantially as described. V

11. The combination with a container, of a valve, a shiftable member in operative relation with said valve for moving the lat ter, and locking mechanism for locking said shiftable member, said locking mechanism being adapted to be actuated for engaging said shiftable member by the pressure of fluid within said container, and said shiftable member masking said locking mechanism while said member is locked, substantially as described.

12. The combination with a container, of a cut-off valve comprising a plug, an arm on said plug, and locking mechanism for locking said arm, said locking mechanism being adapted to be actuated by the pressure of fluid within said container, and said arm masking said locking mechanism while said arm is locked, substantially as described.

13. The combination with a container, of a cut-off valve comprising a plug, an arm on said plug, and locking mechanism for said arm, said locking mechanism being adapted to be put into operative relation with said arm by the pressure of fluid within said container, and said arm masking said locking mechanism While said arm is locked, substantially as described.

14. The combination with a container, of a shiftable member having a socket, a removable member in the Wall of the container, and locking mechanism comprising a bolt for locking said shiftable member, said bolt extending slidably through said removable member and being adapted to be put into engagement with said shiftable member by the pressure of fluid Within said container, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my 'name, in presence of two Witnesses, this 22nd, day of November, in the year one thousand nine hundred and ten.

LEMUEL MATHEW PARMLEY.

Witnesses:

CYRUs KEHR, CORNELIUS CHARLES MoLAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

